If you use proper form when exercising it will not only give you faster results but will get you out of the gym much quicker.  Don’t you want the best results in the least amount of time?  We all do!

Regardless of the exercise, the key is to move the weight/resistance in the way the muscle is designed to move.

Work your muscles not your joints and tendons.  Remember muscle gives your body not only a nice shape but ignites your metabolism so your body burns fat.  Tendons don’t burn fat!

This video will show you proper form for many of the chest exercises.   A video for every body-part is available as a fee download with my book Climb YOUR Ladder of Success Without Running out of Gas.  Click below to get your copy today!  This video was filmed a few years ago,  I am in much better shape today!

I plan on doing all new videos that will be FREE with my next book!  Keep posted we should have news about that very soon.  The tentative title is “The Power of Peak Performance- 12 Weeks to Physical, Mental & Spiritual Strength”

So what do you think?  Was the video helpful?  If you have any ideas for the future videos please let me know.  I want them to provide as much value to you as possible to help you reach your goals and to live the life you deserve!

I began my serious weight training and learning in R&J Health Studio in Brooklyn.  R&J was made famous by all the athletes that would train there.  R&J was the home of Lou Ferrigno and the movie Pumping Iron was filmed there.  Which is precisely what attracted me to this hard core dungeon of a gym.  Several years after joining I ended up buying R&J.

Gym like R&J were the laboratories for our current fitness revolution.  Many don’t realize it but the bodybuilding community has been leading the pack with regards to developments in the wellness, weight loss, or fitness arena since the beginning.  If you want to know what the next diet frenzy will be, just look at what the bodybuilders are doing today.

Back in Brooklyn we had some of the best physiques you would ever see.  All of these people had jobs so they had to make sure they were effective in the gym.  They came in the gym ready to work out, found their training partner, said hello to a few people and then they trained.  You didn’t see them sitting on equipment texting or making a phone call.  Back then we didn’t have this technology but they didn’t eve waste time with chit chat.  They were there to train and that is what they did.

This video clip below is a scene from the movie Pumping Iron.  It shows Lou Ferrigno getting prepared to compete against Arnold Schwarzenegger for the Mr. Olympia title in South Africa.

I had some guys that only came in once or twice a week but looked great.  Others came in  three or four days a week and seldom did you see someone at the gym more then four days a week.  They trained hard and heavy.  Did what they had to do and got out of there.  The mindset was the gym was for training, you lift as hard as you can and go home because you grow when you are at home not in the gym.

Now don’t get me wrong, they had fun, bantered with each other but only in between sets.  You never saw anyone get into a deep conversation, there was no time for it.  They were there for a reason.  Also in these old gyms you never had to go around and look for a spot, everyone looked out for everyone else, so someone was always there with a helping hand or a word of encouragement.

In gyms today I see people “living” on pieces of equipment and it is not uncommon when you ask someone if you can work in or share the equipment that they say, I only have four sets left (meaning no you can’t work in you will have to wait)  This never happened, everyone shared the equipment and helped one another.  It was an environment to train and get into shape.

What you can learn from my Brooklyn days is this.  When you enter the gym you know why you are there.  Do what you have to do and go home.  Be focused but nice to everyone and help anyone who needs help and hopefully they will start doing the same for you.  You don’t have to do anything fancy, just be consistent and you will get into fantastic shape.

Let me know how much time you are spending in the gym or putting into your fitness regimen.  The key to getting and staying in shape is to enjoy what you do and to do it consistently.

If you can’t get into shape doing this then… forgetaboutit!

This is a reprint of an article that was in the Wall Street Journal today (Jan. 17, 2010)   Jonnelle did a great job interviewing me and was very gracious with her time and to include me in the article.

Get Fit on a Budget

By JONNELLE MARTE

Are money and motivation getting in the way of that resolution to exercise more and lose those pounds?

There are ways to reach those goals on a budget. And many employers and health insurers offer the push you need to get started.

Some employee wellness programs offer cash incentives and premium discounts to individuals who get health-risk assessments — which determine an individual’s overall health and offer advice on how to improve it — or participate in exercise programs.

Dollars and Pedometers

Health assessments aren’t just for older workers with medical risk factors. Younger employees, who tend to be healthier and fitter on average, also can use them to help make sure they stay that way.

Kaiser Permanente, a health-care organization, offers appraisals to members that evaluate a person’s nutrition, weight management and pain management, among other things. And employers offer incentives for employees to partake. In California, for instance, some companies pay employees $10 to $200 for completing the online appraisals.

“The kinds of incentives we see most commonly are incentives intended to get people to start thinking about their health and caring about their health,” says Christine Paige, senior vice president of marketing and Internet services for Kaiser.

Some employers entice workers to join activities such as walking programs with cash or raffle entries. In some instances, the company provides pedometers for employees to record progress.

Meantime, many companies offer partial reimbursement for gym-membership costs. Others are rewarding the outcome by lowering premiums for individuals who attain certain health goals, says Ms. Paige. For a young person on a tight budget, a lower premium can make a big difference.

Check with your human-resources department and insurance company about available wellness-program incentives or discounts.

Flexibility Can Pay Off

Here are some other resources for reaching your fitness goals on the cheap.

Aetna has a free application for the BlackBerry smartphone aimed at college students and twentysomethings. It has a calorie tracker and daily nutrition and fitness tips, such as instructions for decoding food labels or for doing different exercises. The iPhone has free apps that track calorie intake.

At AetnaStudentHealth.com, college students and twentysomethings will find tips on quitting smoking, eating healthier and other issues.

If you plan to join a gym, shop around and look into rates at university gyms that accept outside members. Also check if your alma mater offers discounted rates for alumni, says John Rowley, director of fitness and wellness at the American Institute of Healthcare & Fitness, in Raleigh, N.C. Other lower-cost options are community gyms, such as the YMCA.

Ask a gym manager if you can get a discount or special rate for working out during offpeak hours, he adds.

A gym membership not an option? If you have a cable-TV subscription, take advantage of workout routines offered through on-demand services or on fitness channels. And improvise when it comes to equipment: Food cans and water bottles can be used as weights, Mr. Rowley says.

I am starting a new series on this blog called The Brooklyn Body Plan.  I hope this feature is going to be very helpful to you in your quest to live a Peak Performance Lifestyle!

Also I would love your feedback on which name you like best!  Brooklyn Body Plan or Fuhgeddaboutit Fitness?

I want to take a moment to explain the reasoning behind this post.

The main reason I want to do this is to get very straight forward, truthful information into your hands with no hype or BS.

Just like people from Brooklyn, what you see is what you will get on this blog.  Much of my background in bodybuilding and fitness originates out of a little dungeon of a gym that produced some of the best physiques in the world including that of the incredible Lou Ferrigno.  R&J Health Studio holds a place in bodybuilding and fitness history for many reasons and became  famous out side of the bodybuilding world when parts of the movie Pumping Iron where filmed there staring Louie Ferrigno and Arnold Schwarzenegger.  I also had the great honor of owning this gym for a period of time.

I have been in many gyms around the world and have met a ton of people but Brooklyn has a way of boiling things down to the basic truths.  No one has the time or the patients for a bunch of fancy talk and this no non sense attitude carries over into the gym.  Lets find what works, do it and get on with it.

I don’t know about you, but I am sick and tired of all the new fitness gimmicks, weight loss secrets and diets  out there that are a big fat waste of time and money.  Most of the time the physique models that are demonstrating the new diet or piece of exercise equipment don’t even use it.

This blog will be short pieces of useful information that will work and that will be easy to implement into your life.

How do you like that?  Sound like a deal?

If not then don’t worry about it or as We Say in Brooklyn, Fuhgeddaboutit!

I wrote this article a few weeks ago and it has been published all over the world.  I thought I would share it with you!

Are you after the elusive 6-pack or just looking to tighten up your tummy?  There are three key areas you need to focus on to achieve the results you are after.  Read on for a terrific tummy!

1. Proper Cardiovascular Exercise
You can have the best abs in the world, but if they’re covered by fat, you won’t see them.  You must burn off the body fat through proper cardio so you can see your abs.
Cardio needs to be consistent and hard enough to get your heart into the fat burning zone.  At AIHF Wellness, we teach everyone to start right where they are!  Walking for 20 minutes is a good start and then work your way up to at least three to four sessions a week of fast walking, running, the stair master, the elliptical, swimming or biking.  The key is to find something you will do on a consistent basis.  You need to burn more calories then you are consuming so you can get rid of the fat that covers your abs.

2. Proper Resistance Training
The abdominal muscles are a muscle just like your biceps and they need to be worked.  Some great exercises are crunches, leg raises and twists.  Once you get more advanced you can get fancy but for now work on those core exercises and they will strengthen your abs.  This will result in better posture, help elevate back pain and give you nice ab development once you strip away the body fat.

They key to doing any exercise properly is to make sure you are using the desired muscles.  This is even more important when doing abs.  If you rock, sway and use bad form you could injure your lower back.  Make sure you are concentrating on the muscle and not just going through the motion.

3. Proper Nutrition
I am putting this last so you remember it!  Do not sabotage your results in the gym by pigging out at the table.  80% of getting rid of unwanted body-fat is done through proper nutrition.  You can do all the cardio in the world and eat poorly and never see the results you are after.  If you consume more calories than you have expended, you add body fat. Period!
Eat five to six small, well-balanced meals every three hours or so, dividing your protein, carbohydrates and fats among them.  The key to fat loss, is to find the amount of carbohydrates that your body operates best on and don’t exceed that “carbohydrate threshold” by eating too many carbohydrates.
Drink at least a gallon of water each day as well. It will help in nutrient absorption and digestion and with flushing toxins from the body.

Bottom line, make sure you are supplying your body with well-balanced, healthy food every three to four hours, exercise consistently and you will get the terrific tummy you are after!

You don’t have to spend your life in the gym, starve yourself or follow some wacky exercise or diet routine.  You just need to have an effective plan,consistently follow it and you will have the body of your dreams!

Most gyms today have a circuit or equipment grouped in such a way that you can work your whole body just by going down the line of equipment.  In most gyms across the country this is for the novice and is a complete waste of time because it isn’t done properly.  Done properly you can make fantastic gains in a very short period of time.  So if this is the way you have been training or want to start training this way… read on!

This type of training was made very popular back in the 70’s by Arthur Jones the inventor of Nautilus equipment.  Jones would put someone on the first machine, have them go to muscular failure and then with little rest move onto the next piece of equipment that worked a fresh muscle group.  This was done so hard they would have buckets at each station in the event someone got sick.  This is a far cry from what people do on circuits today. HIT (High Intensity Training) circuit training is very effective both in getting you into shape and on the amount of time it takes to complete.

OK lets get started.  First warm up for five minutes on the stationary bike or treadmill.  Then go to the first machine in the circuit and do a couple of light warm up sets.  Once you are warmed up do the first exercise for 12 to 15 reps.  Make sure the weight is heavy enough that you couldn’t do the 16th rep, if you can use more weight.   As soon as you are done move onto the next exercise doing the same thing, 12 to 15 reps to failure then onto the next exercise.  Do this until you finish the circuit.

Most circuits have 12 to 15 machines, so this workout should not take no more then 20 minutes. It will work your muscles, your heart and make you burn fat all at the same time.    If you want to make this more intense you can do an exercise, then skip rope for a minute, then go onto the next exercise and do this all the way down the circuit.  The key is intensity, you have to work this hard in order to see the results but you will see results!

Some points of safety. The reason machines are good for this type of training is because of the safety concerns.  Since you don’t have to balance of the weights you can just focus on working your muscles without getting hurt.   Do not skip the warm up, and when moving the weight you should do the negative part of the exercise twice as slow as the positive.  If it takes 2 seconds to raise the weight then take 4 seconds to lower it.  The purpose of doing this is to make sure your muscles are doing the work and not your joints.  This will allow you to get the best results in the least amount of time without getting hurt.

Now I know you want to get into shape quick but you must realize that diet is 80% of the battle.  The best way to eat is to eat your protein, green veggies and some fruit and to stay away from all the complex starchy carbohydrates.  You need at least one gram of protein per pound of body weight and you should be getting it from good sources like chicken and turkey breast, fish, eggs and egg whites, cottage cheese, etc.  Eat all the green veggies you want, eat 2 pieces of fruit a day, one of which should be after your work out and drink at least 1/2 your body weight in ounces of water a day.

If all of this sounds simple, that is because it is.  It is simple but it takes discipline to do it.  Oh no, I can hear you now… the “D” word!  The most important key to getting in shape is consistency and it takes discipline to be consistent.  The good news is once you are doing this for a few weeks it turns into a habit and then it becomes easy. Just like tying your shoes, after a while it is second nature and you do it automatically.  Just be disciplined long enough to form this healthy habit.

Oh and one more thing!  You don’t need to do those crazy exercise you see people doing on TV in order to get into fantastic shape.  In fact many of these exercises are very dangerous and very irresponsible to be putting on TV.  I saw a celebrity trainer on the Biggest Looser TV show, recently showing how to do a stiff leg dead lift standing on one leg.  I know she was doing this with good intent but this exercise is dangerous enough if you don’t know how to do it on two legs on one leg it is ridiculous and irresponsible.  Sometimes the best advise is to watch what some of these people are doing…and do just the opposite and you will get into great shape.    Only half joking.  It is your body, if something looks wrong it probably is, use your best judgement.

Do a good circuit training routine.  Learn how to do the exercises properly.  Do the basics with intensity and eat properly and you will get in fantastic shape just in time for the holidays!Get